"Tax on ALL Junk food!" (as much as I would love to)
It wouldn't be a good argument without backing up my healthy opinion.
How fat are we as a nation.
According to this very interesting article by Tony Falkenstein on NZ Herald, we are the third fattest country in the world.
The article discussed about the current problem of obesity in New Zealand and referred to OECD stats on obesity.
According to OECD, 27.8% of Kiwis in 2009 are obese and although the rate is lower than that of United States (whopping 35.9%!!!!!), it's higher than the most countries.
Heart Foundation New Zealand explains that if your body mass index(BMI) is greater than 30, you are obese. BMI is calculated by dividing your weight(kg) by your height in metres.
Obesity can lead to numerous health risks (such as diabetes and cardiovascular) but also can cause psychological problems such as low self esteem, depression and other mental health problems. Other health issues that obesity can cause are stroke, several common cancers, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and reproductive abnormalities.
Ministry of Health New Zealand on their website explains that the main cause of obesity is excess intake of energy i.e. food and beverage consumption over expenditure of energy by physical action.
Are you still saying "Nah, I will be fine. That's not my problem?"
Researchers at Auckland University announced that obesity costs the country between NZ$722 million and NZ$849million a year in healthcare and loss of productivity.
This might not affect you directly. But this can result in higher healthcare costs in the future, which in return will affect you and me. AND this is why I strongly believe that we need to take an action by taxing on junk food.
References:
BMI Calculator. (2013). Retrieved
May 10, 2013, from Heart Foundation New Zealand:
http://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/healthy-living/losing-weight/bmi-calculator
Cost of Obesity.
(2012, December
11). Retrieved May 5, 2013, from The University of Auckland:
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=535144
Eriksen, A. (2009,
July 14). Kiwis third fattest in new obesity report. Retrieved April 27,
2013, from New Zealand Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10584289
Obesity Questions
and Answers. (2011, December 06). Retrieved May 05, 2013, from Ministry
of Health:
http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/obesity/obesity-questions-and-answers
OECD Health Data
2012- How Does New Zealand Compare. (2013, January 16). Retrieved
May 05, 2013, from OECD:
http://www.oecd.org/newzealand/BriefingNoteNEWZEALAND2012.pdf
Hi Emma,
ReplyDeleteRemember this is an argument - link all points to your argument.
Remember to clarify what junk food is.
Some good ideas to start with here :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHey Emma, I felt I understood most of what you had intended to imply however, I did feel it was a little short and maybe you could explain a tad bit more in detail of whats what?(My personal opinion yo)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really like how you've tied how New Zealand has been able to heavily tax tobacco(being that I can't afford to smoke in NZ anymore) to your argument of taxing fast food
Hi thanks Ian !
DeleteI haven't actually finished writing this as I am planning to do it in the tutorial tomorrow. But thank you for your feedback ! Helps me a lot.
I don't agree with you. I think the tax on the junk food would be very unfair for those fast food owners. Because each meal of fast food such as one burger+one pack of chips+ one coke will not have too much excessary calories, it is the keep on eating will have the imapct on health. Actually most people get health problem such as obeisity they lay all the blame to those fast food owners but I think the biggest blame should be on those peole themselves. Those people are actually wasting the countries' money for the country to look after their health when they don't look after themselves. I think it is the notion about health eating that is important rather than give a big bang at the fast food places. I think anyone would know that it is not healthy to eating MC eveeryday, but lots of people still do, this is their problem. And I think you focused on the part that those health organization spending lots of money on treating obesed people, but I am thinking about what the fast food owner might suffer if the extra tax do come to them. Their buiness and profit will definitely go down, there might even be close of business and laying off workers. I think it is unfair for them to take these consequences.
ReplyDeleteThose are my opinions only:)
Thank you for your comment.
DeleteI fully understand where you are coming from. Unfortunately though, some end up having obesity related health problems because they can't control their eating habits or they don't know that eating fast food everyday would harm them. The tax that I introduced here would help them educate and detour them from eating such food.
As for the consequences that fast food restaurant operators may have to suffer. They don't have to serve us fatty, salty and sugary food. With the tax, it will force them to introduce new healthier menu options. Therefore fast food no long would mean "fat food".
We need the tax because we are already the third fattest country in the world that needs medical care and education for obesity. If we weren't one of the fattest countries, I would have agreed with all you mentioned above. But it's too late for us. We need the medical care because it costs us too much already
Following up on Longfei's comment on McDonald's(or any fast food joints) Combos; It actually contains more saturated fat than you need in a day, which depends on your gender, weight, height and activity level but 24grams a day for an average adult.(My Daily Intake,2011) Calorie intake per day that an average adult need is no more than 2000 calories. The breakdown of what a combo can contains;
Delete"Big Mac: 493 calories, 26.9g fat
Cheeseburger: 285 calories, 12.5g fat
Med. French fries: 368 calories, 19.8g fat
Med. Coca-Cola: 148 calories, no fat
Reg. chocolate sundae: 329 calories, 9.3g fat
TOTAL: 1623 calories, 68.5g fat"
(Mennie, 2011)
The problem is a combo would not be the only meal people often eat in the day. Some people eat it occasionally. Plus a medium cup of coca cola or sprite contains as much as 8 teaspoons of white sugar(that's as much sugar as3 servings of frosted flakes breakfast cereal) Consuming so much saturated fat and sugar will not make you fatter but in the end give you fatal health problems that shorten your life. (Jegtvig, 2013)
Jegtvig, Shereen (2013) Nutirition FAQ:How Much Sugar in a Can of Soda? Retrieved on 14 May 2013 from http://nutrition.about.com/od/healthyappetizerssnacks/f/how-much-sugar-in-cola.htm
Mennie, S (2011) Retrieved on 14 May 2013 from http://www.news.com.au/national-news/lunching-on-the-large-side/story-e6frfkvr-1226008911111
My Daily Intake (2011) Retrieved on 14 May 2013 from http://www.mydailyintake.net/nutrients/
Hi Longfei/Emma
DeleteI just thought i would add my two sense.
I totally agree that fast food owners would suffer, is this fair? Well just look at people who sell smokes and liquor? These are products which cause obsesity and health problems and are taxed at a high rate because of it. Now this isnt backed up with any evidence but im pretty sure that people who sell smokes and booze are doing just fine with the higher tax on there products. Which im sure fast food resturants ( if you can call them that) will be as well. They just might have to reievent themselves and maybe even start selling fast food which is more healthy. As somebody with long cooking experience its possible i can tell you this now. Also you just have to watch programs like The Food Truck to see examples of how you can have fast food which taste nice and is good for you.
Hey, I don't 100% agree with what you have said but defiantly don't disagree with it. I think its crazy how healthy food is the more expensive option. To live a healthy organic lifestyle would probably cost twice or three times as much as if you lived off fast food and junk food. It is your choice as to what you eat so I guess if junk food was taxed and made more expensive then healthier options then maybe people will change their unhealthy lifestyles? I am for a healthier country as being classified as a "fatty" country isn't cool, maybe taxing on junk food could be a step in the healthier direction?
ReplyDeleteHi Emma!
ReplyDeleteI would say definitely imposition of taxes on food or beverage could reduce sale-marketing figures and also this can control some people stop consuming junk food. This got me think about both sides of the issue, which I personally haven’t thought of before.
First of all, raising the tax doesn’t mean changing personal attitude. If we are not talking about genetic factor induce obesity in some cases. The main problem of overweight or obese people is that they eat more calories than use the calories. As you can see, most of obese people are having a couch potato stereotype or lazy to keep up their physical activities for example. I think even though people eat junk food everyday but they always keep their fitness whatever the age is, they’ll not have this problem and let the junk food affect to their health status.
I think the main thing is we should focus on personal attitude rather than placing the taxes on junk food. Some people might not care how much the tax goes up because they want to eat it and they can afford to buy it. To tackle this problem, before increasing taxes, probably we should find the other strategies to decrease eating fast food and soft drinks among population. Martin Johnson posted a shot in the New Zealand Herald about a rang of national policies could be developed such as ‘a ban on advertising high-fat and high-sugar foods, especially to children’ and ‘introducing subsidies or other incentives for the poor to buy nutritious foods, and regulating portion sizes’
(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3516837).
Then, if people are still not aware and not trying to change it as we expect they should be. TAXING ON JUNK FOOD might be a good option for citizens and governments to solve the problem of the third fattest country in the world.
By contrast, increasing the tax might affect the low-income people who are healthy because we already pay GST 15% at the moment. They might like the junk food as a treat and they don’t have obese problem. Having a Combo set might be a great time of a day after working hard. What should they do if the hamburger, chip, and coke are expensive than usual? They can’t afford the Combos set anymore and this seems unfair, isn’t it? Meanwhile, we tell them these kinds of foods are not good for your health. You are wrong to consume it so you have to eat fruit and vegetables instead.
I agree with Zhang as regard the sale effects on junk food owners/companies. However, in my view, before letting tax on junk food legislation, I think it might be a challenge time for the owners/companies breaking the product by creating and offering consumers a new product with healthier food. If they are successful in the project, the customers choose the new healthy product, they will have the selling profits than ignore and let the tax kills them.
This is just my opinion in different views and I like to read your blog Emma. It’s very educational blog and firmly with the statistic support. It helps me improve my knowledge as well as alert me to think about buying junk food now and then.
Cheers,